One in five girls in England don’t feel safe at school

A recent survey by charity Girlguiding has found that girls in the north of England are less likely to feel safe in their daily lives, and particularly at school.

More than 3000 girls took part in the survey...

Key findings:

• More than 22% of girls in the north of England aged 11-16 said that fear of sexual harassment was holding them back at school, compared to 16% in in London and the south.
• 26% of girls in the north of England also that said gender stereotyping was holding them back at school, compared with 18% in London and the south. This figure is much higher for LGBTQ+ girls, which 37% complaining about gender stereotyping at school.
• Overall 19% said they don't feel safe in school, which rose to 22% for girls in the north of England. There were also differences between ethnicities with only 65% BAME girls feeling safe in school compared to 70% for white girls.

Girl Guiding chief executive Angela Salt said: “It is shocking how many girls and young women, some as young as 11 years old, don’t feel safe at school, on social media or out in public. Our research shows just how common discrimination, stereotyping and sexism is in our society and how unsurprisingly this creates barriers to happiness, confidence and success."

These statistics are useful when teaching gender differences and patriarchy within schools.

In a timely welcome today the the Home Office is set to promote the second phase of its 'Enough' campaign (https://enough.campaign.gov.uk...), which was set up to help tackle violence against girls and young women. It will use television adverts, billboards, social media and radio advertising to highlight different forms of violence against women and girls and how to challenge perpetrators of abuse.